The Legacy
by TheBreakfastClubberMyself
Summary: It was almost a legacy... her mother, her grandmother... but will Riley follow in their footsteps... and get caught up in the moment?- Future Fic
1. My Life and Death as told by Riley M

**Disclaimer:** As most of you know... I do not own Degrassi or any trademarked/ coptrighted item mentioned in my story. Okay? Thanks.

**Summary:** It was a legacy... her mother, her grandmother... but could Riley escape it? Or would she too, get caught in the moment?

**Pairings:** This is taking place about sixteen years after The Next Generation, so it'll be made up characters mainly, with cameos by my favorite Degrassi couples.

**Rating:** PG- 13 for some language, sexual content, and drug reference.

**A/N:** Okay, this is my second Degrassi story and I'm really excited to get it up and going, so here it is. Please R/R! I want your ideas, comments, suggestions, whatever. Just tell me what you think. Thank you!

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Degrassi Community School was one of those places, you know, the ones that hold memories of years past. Most of my family had gone here, my mom, my dad, my grandmother, my aunt, my granddad, my stepmom, my stepdad, even my uncle, who was only a grade ahead of me.

I stood at my locker, looking at it's battered shelves. I put a book in my bag and was about to shut the door, when I felt a strong pair of arms wrap around me. I giggled. I couldn't help it, Haiden had a way of doing that. I turned around and gave him a quick kiss.

"Hello," I greeted, cheerily.

"What's up, baby?" he answered back.

"Well, you know, the usual. Why do you have to call me 'baby' you know it drives me nuts!" I laughed.

"Then, mission accomplished," he smiled.

.:Ring:.

"Ugh, time for class," I drearily remarked.

"Ok, let's go."

We headed for English, taught by Mrs. Kwan... the same teacher our parent's had. A lot of my friends' parents had gone here, too. And my boyfriend was no exception, his mother got pregnant at about the same time as my mom, which, my mom said shocked everyone, because his mom was raped when she was in grade nine. Nobody thought she'd do anything for a long while, but mom says Paige and Spinner were in love. Mom says her and dad were in love, too, at the time.

The teacher droned on and on and I just sat there and doodled. Haiden sat next to me, listening to his headphones, which were hidden beneath his hoodie. I had to give him props, Haiden never got caught by the teachers. He was slick. He was really hot, too. I mean, it may be kinda gross, but he's almost identical to his dad, well you know, a younger version. But, he had his mother's beautiful eyes, they were greenish- blue, it depended on the light. But, looks aren't everything. Haiden has a great personality. He has a great sense of humor, he's smart, fun, romantic, sweet, and everything else a girl could want.

My mother always liked Haiden. We'd been dating since grade eight, so about two years. But, she always warned me to be careful, it didn't surprise me. She had been only seventeen when she had me. She said that getting caught in the moment, was one of the biggest mistakes. She said that I wasn't a mistake,(I was unplanned, but not a mistake... yeah right) just her and dad doing what they did, was a big mistake.

After school was finally over Haiden and I started walking home, hand in hand. We only lived a few blocks apart, which was nice. But, mom doesn't let me have Haiden over until she is home, which is usually kinda late. Oh, well, some might call her over protective... I just call her experienced. She had gotten pregnant in my dad's garage, while they were home alone. I guess, I can see where she's comeing from. I walked to Haiden's front porch, gave him one last kiss, then headed home.

I opened the door to our empty house, well, unless you count our cat, Mu Mu. I headed upstairs and grabbed a few of my favorite makeup things, and put them in a make up bag, it's Tuesday night, on Tuesday's, Thursday's, and everyother weekend I stay with my dad and stepmom, Ashley. They just live on the other side of town. After I had all my necessities packed, I looked in the mirror. I looked a lot like both of my parents. I had my mother's staight, blonde hair, and I had her eyes, but I shared most other facial features with my father.

I sat down and did some homework. At about five o' clock I heard a car horn sound outside. Ashley was here. I really liked Ashley, she was a good stepmom. She always had a story starting with 'Back when I was in school...' or something like that. She shows me pictures of her and dad back in high school. She looked really awesome! She was kinda goth/ punk back in the day. It was a really cool style. She always wore a lot of black eyeshadow, and lots of eyeliner.

Dad and Ashley had dated back in high school, but dad cheated on her with mom's friend, Manny. My mom was the first to know about my dad and Manny, she caught them in her basement. But, Manny soon grew tired of sneaking around and told dad, to choose, her or Ashley. Dad was hesitant but told Manny he'd broken up with Ashley, but secretly hadn't. Ashley soon found out about them, and then both girls dumped my dad. My mom had just broken up with my now, step dad, Sean, and was completely devastated.

As if on cue, mom said her telephone rang. It was Grandma Caitlin. She needed a babysitter for my aunt. My mom agreed, thinking it might take her mind off of things. She went over and after Ang went to bed mom went to see what dad was doing in his garage. They started talking, then kissing, and as you can guess... one thing lead to another. Two months later mom realized she was pregnant. She worried about how to tell dad, but once she finally did, he took it quite good... Manny had just aborted the child, dad and Manny had "made". My dad always wanted a family. Well, as I was saying, dad took it well, but as for the parents... they didn't take it nearly as good.

Grandma and Grandpa Nelson were the first to find out...grandma found the pregnancy test. She, too, had gotten pregnant at a young age, about seventeen, also. She was in shock that mom would do such a thing... my mom was kind of a prude, as you may say in high school. Then grandma called Gradma Caitlin and Granddad over. Mom and dad had to tell the story all over again, not pleasing any of the parents. Well, my mom decided against an abortion... thank God! Or else my beautiful self wouldn't be here.

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_Hey guys,_

_I really hope you enjoy this, if not, tell me and I'll simply stop writing it. Well please R/R. Thanks again,_

_Shelby_


	2. Live Life in the Lap of Luxury

**Disclaimer:** We all know... I don't own it.

**Recap:** We got the lowdown on how Riley Elizabeth Manning came to be. Her boyfriend- Haiden Michael Mason- is also from a Degrassi family. If you haven't figured it out- Riley's mom is Emma, dad- Craig. Oh, and I made a silly little mistake... I wrote grandma and grandpa Nelson... yeah, it should be grandma and grandpa Simpson.

(**A/N:** Thanks for all the reviews. Please keep it up. If at anytime, you have any ideas for the story, please put them in the review! This chapter isn't as good as the first one, and the next chapter, will definately start getting into the good part of the story. Thanks, again.)

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I walked out to Ashley's new Corvette. Her and dad were pretty well off, dad's a professional photographer, he does a lot of magazine spreads and things like that. Ashley is a songwriter. She's even written for some big names in music like Andy Little (A/N: Yeah, I made it up... I couldn't think of anything else.). Not to say that mom and Sean were poor, they're not doing horrible either. Sean's one of the best known mechanics in Toronto. And Mom's a campaign publist for a woman's rights magazine.

Once I opened the door to the car I heard the blaring music- that's how Ashley liked her music, loud and upbeat, but at the same time, deep and heavy. I guess, mainly the type of music she listened to was the type of music she wrote. But, Ashley only listened to her own songs once, to see if they sounded the way she had planned. I quickly hopped in.

"Hey, chicka," she greeted.

"Hey," I replied.

"Let's get going, don't tell your dad, but we're going shopping," she laughed.

My smile grew bigger. I loved shopping with Ashley, she'd buy me nearly anything I wanted, unlike mom, who made me uy everything a size too big. Once again, mom wasn't a bad person, she just didn't want boys viewing me the way they had viewed her friend, Manny, in high school.

"Yeah!" I exclaimed.

I really liked Ashley, she was a really great step mom, so if my parents can't be together anymore, then I'm glad I got the step parents I have.

"What do you wanna get?" she asked. "Makeup? Jewelery? CD's? Clothes? You tell me."

"Um... I dunno. What do you wanna get?" I asked back.

"I need to get some CD's and make up," she said, simply.

"Oh, okay," I replied.

"I know you want that new JoJo CD, man, she's been around since back in the day... I think she was about thirteen or so, when she started," Ashley informed me.

I nodded in agreement. I did want the CD, and I've been listening to JoJo since I was pretty young.

"Yeah," I agreed. Ashley had written a few songs for JoJo awhile back.

"What else?" she asked. Ashley wouldn't leave the mall until I'd bought atleast three or four things.

"I dunno... a DVD or something, maybe?" I said, not meaning it to be a question.

"Like?"

"I don't know... like Thirteen or something," I responded. I had this weird obsession with movies from my parent's and grandparent's younger years. I liked movies like The Goonies and Thirteen. Some of my friends thought it was kinda weird, they would watch a movie with me and say "That movie has such bad special affects," but mom and Ashley say that's what they used to say about movies from their parent's time.

"Okay," she smiled. She thought it was funny, too, those were some of her favorite movies as a teenager. "Anything else?"

"Nah, probably not," I replied.

We went shopping for nearly two and a half hours, when we were finally done, I was relieved. We went home, and found dad waiting for us. I walked into the house, threw my bag of clothes and my shopping bags into my room, and went back out to the kitchen. Dad had ordered pepperoni pizza, my favorite. I grabbed a plate, slapped two pieces down on it, and then I sat down at the bar where we usually ate. Dad and Ashley were already sitting down, eating.

"So, how's school?" Dad asked. That was always the first question he asked.

"Same old, same old," I replied.

Dad laughed. "Same old, same old, eh?"

"Yep," I said.

"I see you guys went shopping," Dad added, with a wink.

I nodded.

"Traitor!" Ashley exclaimed, jokingly.

We all laughed.

"How's Haiden?" Dad questioned. He, too, liked Haiden, Dad and Spinner were friends way-back-when, and still to this day are.

"Good," I replied.

"That's good," Dad and Ashley said in harmony.

"Yeah."

"Well," Dad said, after finishing his pizza, "I need to go work in the dark room for awhile."

"Okay." Ashley and I replied.

I liked when dad had to work in the dark room, he's usually in there for atleast an hour or so... this gave me and Ashley time to mess around and do whatever we wanted. It was weird, Ashley was kinda quiet by herself, but when me and her are together, it's like she's a completely different person. _(A/N: Yes, I know, 'me and her' isn't grammatically correct, but this is being told from a sixteen-year-old's POV)_ Once dad had gone into the dark room, Ashley and I went wild, we turned on the stereo and blared the music, and funny as it may be, we started singing into hairbrushes. That got old after awhile, so we just turned on the tv and watched some old movie. After that, it was nearly 11 o' clock. I headed up to my room, and turned on the stereo, I slipped into my pajamas, then fell asleep to my favorite CD, _Take It All Away_ by Ryan Cabrera, all the time thinking about Haiden.

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Okay, guys so this is this chapter, I promise the next chapter will be WAY more exciting then this, this was kinda just to get a feel on how Ashley and Craig lived.

**Spoilers:**

_- Home alone._

_- A shocking surprise._

Thanks,

Shelby


	3. From Me to You: An author's note, silly!

Quick Author's Note...

Hey guys, I am seriously sorry about not updating! I have the next few chapters of both stories written in a notebook, but I haven't had enough time to type them out, they will be up ASAP, but I didn't want you guys to think I was neglecting my stories or anything... I just have a lot of homework, but like I said, I will have the next chapters up as soon as I can. Deepest sympathy,

Ciao,

The Author,

×Shelby


	4. Enter Virgin Territory

**Disclaimer: Sadly, all I own is this story and finally Degrassi: The Next Generation- Season One on DVD!! So yeah, I don't own the show or it's characters... oh, and I don't own Play- Dough (not that I'd want to...) or the new show "Life as We Know It" from which I stole this title.**

_Recap: We took a glimpse into the fabulous (okay, a little exaggerated) lives of Ashley and Craig Manning._

* * *

**-Emma's POV-**

I remember it perfectly...

**-Flashback-**

_Caitlin called me at about 7:30 Thursday night... she simply asked if I could babysit Angie tomorrow. I told her of course... I'm not one to pass up a babysitting job... my one source of income. She thanked me and apologized for such short notice. It's fine, I remember telling her._

_Friday was your typical school day at Degrassi... nothing exciting._

_Friday afternoon I got home at about 3:50 or so... so I quickly did some homework and talked to mom for a little bit... at about 6:30 I got dressed to g babysit. At 7:00 mom took me over to Caitlin and Joey's house._

_"Hi, Emma!" Angie greeted, cheerily._

_"Hi, Angie!" I greeted back._

_"Em, you're a life saver!" Caitlin said as she rushed to find her coat. "Both Joey and mine's cell numbers are on the fridge, in case you need them. Ang needs to be in bed by ten." (at that Angie stuck her tongue out at the back of Caitlin's head)_

_"We'll be fine, Caitlin, you and Joey just go and have a time," I said, with a wink._

_"Okay, well we'd better be off," Joey said, finally entering the room. "Craig should be home at around eleven o' clock or so... we'll be here around eleven- thirty or so. Well, we're running late. Bye!"_

_"Bye!" Angie and I shouted after them._

_Then got in the car and took off._

_"What do you want to do?" I asked Angie. Big mistake... she had thousands of things she wanted to do._

_We spent the night playing dress up and watching movies and molding Play-Dough and well, you get the picture._

_At 9:45 I told Angie she needed to get into her pajamas, which lead to a half hour fight of, "I don't wanna go to bed!" and "But, Caitlin said ten!" But finally I won the arguement. She got dressed and into bed and I read her a story. Then she fell asleep._

_I went downstairs and turned on the TV. Nothing on. I looked through their movies... I finally settled on the '80's version of "The Outsiders." After about a half hour of the movie Craig entered the house, almost scaring me half to death._

_"Hey, Em," he greeted._

_"Hi, Craig," I replied._

_"What's up?" he asked._

_"Stalking you," I replied jokingly. "I finally got Ang in bed about thirty minutes ago."_

_"Yeah, that's the hard part," he said, with a wink._

_I laughed. "Of course. So what have you been up to?"_

_"Not much, we went to Jimmy's and hung out," he replied. "I'm gonna go out to the garage, you wanna come?"_

_The garage was Craig's space. The band's rehearsal space. Craig's hang out. From what Caitlin said, it was where Craig stayed until the wee hours of the morning, which didn't please Joey much._

_"I might once Joey and Caitlin get back," I simply replied._

_"Ok," he said as he walked out the door._

_I sat there, secretly watching the clock for Joey and Caitlin, I hate to admit it but I had this HUGE crush on Craig. I mean, sure he was the guy who'd gotten my ex- best friend pregnant, but he at least wanted to keep the baby, unlike Manny. A sense of hatred filled me, Manny and I still weren't even on speaking terms._

**.:Door opens:.**

_"Hey, Em, we're back," Caitlin said as she came in_.

**_Um... duh?_**

_"Hi," I replied._

_"How did it go?" she asked._

_"It went good, she didn't want to go to bed, but she finally gave in," I answered._

_Joey and Caitlin laughed._

_"How was your date?" I questioned._

_"It was fabulous..." she started and went on for about five minutes._

_"That sounds great," I said with fake enthusiasum._

_"Yep, well here..." Joey said, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket, "forty dollars."_

**_He handed me the money... FORTY DOLLARS?! Normally they paid me twenty for the same amount of time, but I wasn't about to argue._**

_"That's for coming on such short notice," Caitlin told me._

_"Oh, it was really no problem," I reassured her._

_"Oh, don't be modest. Do you need a ride home?" she asked._

_"No, I can walk," I told them._

_"Okay," Joey said. "Thanks again, Emma."_

_"No problem. Well I'm gonna get going."_

_"Okay, bye." they both said in harmony._

_I walked out the back door, closing it behind me._

_**They're definately gonna get married soon, I thought.**_

_I contemplated going into the garage or not. I decided for it._

_I walked in, and heard Craig playing a song._

_**Wow, that is so good!**_

_"Oh, hey, Emma," he started, "I thought you'd decided not to come in."_

_"No, I just stopped to talk with Joey and Caitlin... man, she can talk your ear off!" I exclaimed, with laughter._

_Craig laughed, too._

_"That she can," he agreed._

_"That song was amazing!" I complimented._

_"Thanks, I wrote it for Ashley... when we were... you know, going out," he informed me. I could see by the look on his face, it was a sore subject._

_"I'm sorry, Craig, but trust me, I know how you feel."_

_"Oh, how so?" he inquired._

_I felt my eyes beginning to burn._

_"Sean... broke up... with me..." I said, then burst into a fit of tears._

_"Oh, Em, I'm sorry," Craig, comforted, wrapping his arms around me._

_**For once in a long time, I felt safe... really safe.**_

_"I'm sorry, Craig, I probably look pathetic crying about Sean, when he's broken up with me so many times."_

_"Don't be. No matter how many times you break up with some one, if you really love them, the love doesn't fade."_

_I laughed._

_"What's so funny?" he asked._

_"Don't take this the wrong way, but you kinda sounded like Oprah, there."_

_He laughed._

_"Gee, thanks," he remarked._

_"Anytime."_

_**We kept talking. With each sentence I found myself falling farther into the crush I had on Craig.**_

_"Emma, I just want you to know, you're beautiful and Sean must be out of his mind to have broken up with you... any guy would be lucky to go out with such a great girl- young woman as you."_

_**I couldn't handle it anymore. I kissed him, and it's not like he stopped me. He kept kissing me too.**_

_**Then, you can imagine what happened that night, I won't go into details, but I think you get it, eh? ;)**_

**-Two Months Later-**

_**I know I just had it last month, right? I know I did. But I knew I was lying to myself. I didn't have my period last month. I was pregnant, by Craig Manning. I think.**_

_"Manny, what do I do?!" I asked her. We were finally friends again. I'd told her what happened, I think she was a little mad, but I don't think she wanted to ruin our friendship again. "Do I tell him first or take a pregnancy test first?"_

_"Take the test first."_

_"Okay, will you come over... you know, for moral support?" I asked her._

_"Of course, Em," she replied._

_Manny come over and we walked to a drug store about six blocks from my house... no one would know me there. I quickly bought the test, and shoved it into my purse, then we ran back to my house._

**_I did what the box said then waited fifteen minutes, but I already knew the outcome. I was pregnant. I'd been having morning sickness, I'd missed my period for two months, and sometimes the smell of food made me sick._**

**.:Ding:.**

_**I looked at the test, just as I knew it would... it showed a pink positive sign.**_

_**I broke down, I cried for nearly an hour, Manny by my side comforting me.**_

_**I finally got up, fixed myself up, and mustered up the courage to go over to Craig's. Manny decided she'd just walk with me til we got to her house. So I finally reached Craig's and it felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest.**_

_I went to the garage, knowing that's where Craig would be._

_I knocked._

_"Who is it?" he yelled._

_"Craig, it's me, Emma," I shouted back._

_"Oh, Em, come on in."_

_I opened the door and walked in._

_"Hey," he said, with a quick kiss on the cheek_. _**I don't know if I mentioned it, but Craig and I are officially a couple.**_

_"Craig, I need to talk to you," I muttered._

_"About what?" he asked._

_"I- I- I- I think... I think... I think I might... be... be... I mean, I am.... pregnant," I finally spat out._

_His face turned from happiness to pure shock._

_"But I- I- I used a condom."_

_"Craig, those don't always work."_

_I started crying._

_"How are we going to tell our parents?" I sobbed._

_"Em, we'll figure it out," he assured me, "I promise."_

_He pulled me into his arms._

_"I love you, Craig," I said._

_"I love you, too, Emma," he replied._

_"We have to tell them soon, I can already see my stomach getting bigger," I told him, lifting up my shirt a little to show him the buldge that was beginning to appear._

_"I don't know," he said._

_"Don't know what?" I asked._

_"How we're going to tell them," he informed me._

_"We could tell them all together," I suggested._

_"I don't know, maybe we should tell your mom and Snake first?" he questioned, "I mean, it happened to her, too, she'd know what to do about it, right?"_

_"Well, yeah, but she's always told me that if I got pregnant in high school she'd kill me," I told him._

"**Excuse** _me?!" a voice came from the door._ _**It was Caitlin. Oh, God!**_ _"What did you just say, Emma?!"_

_It was more of a demand then a question._

_"Caitlin, please, I... uh... we didn't know how to.... tell you guys," Craig stuttered._

_"So you really are pregnant? I heard right?!" she demanded._

_I had tears streaming down my cheeks. Craig and I nodded._

_"Oh, my, God! I come out here to get you for dinner, and I find out you two got pregnant!" she wailed._

_Joey came in._

_"Caitlin, what is it?" he asked, worriedly. "What happened?" He looked at us._

_"They got... pregnant!" Caitlin yelled._

_"You WHAT?!" Joey screamed._

_"It's true, Emma is pregnant!" she exclaimed._

_"We'll talk about this once Spike and Snake get here!" Joey scolded._

**_He went inside and called mom and Snake, telling them they needed to get there immediately, it was urgent._**

**_Mom and Snake arrived within minutes, mom carrying Jack. Mom was hysteric._**

_"What is it? What's wrong? Is someone hurt?!" she exclaimed._

_"Why don't you two tell her?" Joey asked us._

_**We couldn't do it... I thought, we couldn't atleast, but I looked at Craig, his face plastered with terror. Then he opened his mouth and I opened mine. Words popping out.**_

_"Emma's/ I'm pregnant." Our sentences combined._

_Mom's face dropped._

**-Seven months later-**

**_I found myself in a hospital, saying words I couldn't believe were coming out of my mouth. Craig was holding my hand, reassuring me that it was going to be okay, but I squeezed his hand harder with each contraction. And called him another obscene name with each one, too, which I think scared him, a little, but the nurses told him it was completely normal for me to curse the man who got me here._**

**_Finally, after an excruciating twelve hour delivery, our daughter, Riley Autumn Manning was born. Craig looked at me. His eyes glowing._**

_"You did it," he told me._

_"I'm so tired," I told him._

_"I know, get some rest," he said._

**_But I wanted to hold her. And as soon as I did, I fell in love with the little 6 pound, seven ounce baby._**

_"Do you want to hold her?" I asked Craig._

_"Of course," he replied, taking her into his arms, his eyes full of admiration._

* * *

_Hey guys,  
I hope you like this chapter, I am extremely sorry for taking so long to update. Please R&R. Oh, and the title of this chapter is from the advertisements for "**Life as we Know it**," which is on tonight, and I really wanna watch it. Well that's all for now,  
Ciao,  
Shelby_


	5. One love, one shot, that's all we ever g...

**Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi. I wish I did, cause if I did, Rick would have never shot poor, old Jimmy AND Spinner and Jay wouldn't have caused it in the first place.**

_Recap: Emma's POV about that night with her and Craig._

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**Riley's POV**

_It was one rule... one time... but it turned into something more. It turned into a whole fiasco of yelling, screaming, and lecturing. Let me elaborate a little more._

_I'm typically not supposed to have Haiden over, unless my parents are home. Well, yesterday mom mentioned that right after work her and Sean were going out and that they wouldn't be home til late. So, I figured maybe me and Haiden could talk. Our relationship was kinda bumping lately because we didn't see each other much this summer. So, we walked home together, and I invited Haiden in._

_I'm sure you've heard the story before... we were studying, then we decided to take a "study break". Then... well, one thing lead to another... which lead to my bedroom. Then you know what happened from there. Well, when we finished, so to speak, I fell asleep on Haiden's chest. I guess he must have fell asleep, too. We must have been asleep for a while because the next thing I remember is mom yelling up the stairs looking for me. Then there was that infamous moment when she opened my bedroom door, only to find me and Haiden sprawled out on the bed. That's when the yelling began. She yelled for us to get our clothes on, then yelled for us to get downstairs as soon as we were dressed. Haiden and I hurriedly threw on our clothes._

_Could this be any worse?!_

_Once we were dressed we slowly walked down the stairs not, even speaking to each other. Mom was pacing the living room._

"SIT!" she commanded.

_We did as we were told._

"Are you two insane?!" she screamed.

_We shook are heads._

"Don't you know what happened to me and Paige when we were about your age?!"

_We nodded._

"Then why on earth would I have to walk into your room and find you two... sprawled out and naked?!" she yelled.

"Look, Mom, we didn't mean to... it just happened. We're sorry," I pleaded.

_She stood there for a minute, just looking at us._

"Riley, 'sorry' doesn't mean anything. 'Sorry' won't keep you from getting pregnant. 'Sorry' won't keep you two together forever will it?" she inquired.

_This was the first time Mom had ever doubted Haiden and I's relationship._

"No, Mom, it won't, but if Haiden and I love each other, then we will be together forever," I replied.

_She didn't say much more, she told Haiden to get his things and head home, which he did. I could only imagine the lecture I was in for later._

_-----------------------------------------------------------------_

**Haiden's POV**

_Damn! If there was one time I could ever rewind and not do, it would be that... having sex with Riley, not because I don't love her or anything, but because we got caught._

"Haiden, are you listening?!" Mom screamed at me.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," I said.

"Then what did I just say?" she asked me.

_God, I hate it when she does that._

"Um..." I trailed off.

"That's what I thought," she replied. "What I said was I can't believe that of all people... you and Riley would do this... both Emma and I got pregnant in high school and you guys know that... how could you do this?!"

"Mom, I don't know. I just... don't know," I said.

"Haiden, that's not a good answer!" she yelled.

"We love each other! Why can't you get that through your heads?!" I screamed back.

"We know that. Dad and I were in love, too and still are. But, the fact is, you two just aren't ready to have a child. You're too young... we were too young," Mom cried.

"I know that. We just got caught in the moment. But even if she did get pregnant... I would be there for here. Always," I promised.

"Haiden, we know that. It's just you're too young to know what love truly is. You're too young to know a lot of things," Mom explained.

She thinks I don't know what love is?! I'm positive I do. I've loved Riley since I met her three years ago, but I've loved her even more since I got up enough courage to ask her out two years ago and she said yes.

"Mom," I pleaded, "I know what love is." 

"Haiden, you might think you do... but... ugh... you're stubborn, just like your father. You might think you do, but Haiden you're too young to grasp what it really is. You've been through too little. You need to experience things. Your father and I just want what's best for you. You know that, right?"

_I nodded._

"Good, you're grounded."

_I sighed. How did these conversations always end up like this?_

* * *

_Hi, everyone.   
Sorry, it took so long to update. I've been totally busy and I've had a writer's block lately. But here it is. Please r/r. BTW, for anyone who reads it, my other fic, Today We're Thinkin' About will be updated ASAP, but I'm writing for JT, who is totally unlike me, so it's kinda hard. Please, don't give up on me :D.   
Ciao,   
Shelby_


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